Escaping Panem
by Moonlit Rook
Summary: Finnick and Katniss discover a videotape that reveals a whole new world they could never imagine. But as they escape, there are some inevitable, tragic consequences unfinished
1. Prologue

'Help. Oh God they're coming. Help us, please. We need help, they're coming…coming..min..in-ing'

Katniss and I looked up from the old video tape as it cut out for the millionth time, not knowing what we were looking for, but knowing it was crucial. We couldn't save the man, he was a pre-war human. He died many years ago, probably slaughtered by the Capitol. But maybe it still meant something.

Maybe I should explain…

"Hey Catnip!" I shouted, startling Katniss, and getting the reaction I wanted, as the arrow she veered off course, startling the deer as it landed, harmless, in the shining green leaves on the forest floor a metre away

She turned around, her brows twisted into an exasperated frown.

"Finnick!" she exclaimed, "What was that for?" Her voice showed real annoyance, but I knew she wouldn't stay mad at me for long,

"I was just wondering if you wanted a sugar cube. Do you?" I enquired, making sure to keep my eyes wide, and my tone dripping with mock innocence. I popped a sugar cube in my mouth and grinned as she turned around, sighing, and melted back into the forest. The grainy texture of the sugar was just starting to disintegrate in my mouth, filling it with sweetness that reminded me of Annie. I think that is why I got hooked on them while in the Capitol.

"Annie!" I remembered how I promised I would never leave her, once after I won the Hunger Games, and again after she told me she was going to have a baby, last night in my arms in the austere room we were provided with by District 13. I slipped out while she was sleeping, but she was sure to have awoken by now. I imagined her going back into her own little world, not responding to anything, or anyone. I was brought out of my guilt trip by a scream from somewhere to my right, wait, it sounded like…

"KATNISS!" I burst through the trees, the vines catching on my unkempt hair as I tore the undergrowth in my clumsy pursuit.

I arrived in a clearing, covered in bushes dripping with glistening sapphire berries. I remember thinking with enormous clarity how Annie would love them, as they were the exact colour of our special lake, just as Katniss disappeared down a hole, hidden between the two biggest bushes.

"Finnick, don't leave me, please, District 13 don't need me any more, they won't come back, Peeta needs me, he won't survive…" she carried on babbling as I grabbed on to her arms, and hooked my feet around the thick stem of the bushes. It kept her calm, but I needed her to keep still. I could already feel the familiar ache of strain, familiar to when I lifted a weight that was far too heavy in the gym, trying uselessly to build my arms up to at least half the size of Peeta's.

"You know, I can see the veins in your arms, why are they moving? Oh you are stupid Katniss, veins have blood in, blood moves, especially when you are working hard and…

"Katniss! SHUT UP!" I couldn't take it any more. Wshen she was speaking, her body moved just like her mind…a lot.

"Listen to me; do you have any means of communication?" I smiled slightly as she shook her head, looking like a child, being told off for talking in the middle of a history lesson (in other words, a lecture on how lucky we are to have the Capitol).

"Right" I said, trying to take control, but my mind was spinning like crazy, "umm… well I can't exactly go and get help, can I…" My joke falling flat as I looked into her terrified, clear grey eyes. "Sorry, I'm scared as much as you are." She shook her head furiously, as if trying to prove me wrong without words

"NO!" I shouted, as I saw that motion, combined with both of our sweaty palms dislodged her from my arms. I watched, hopelessly, as she fell, a blur of light brown hair, come loose from her trademark plait, disappearing from my very…oh.

She fell about two metres, then looked up, slightly disgruntled. We were silent for about 2 minutes, then simultaneously burst out laughing, diffusing the tension.

"Hey," she called up to me "there's loads of stuff down here!"

"Greeat…" I said, popping another sugarcube in my mouth, "What sort of stuff?"

"I think it's from the dark days!" She sounded genuinely excited, so I decided to play along

"O.K. then, how do you know its from the war, or before or whatever?" I enquired, inwardly cursing myself, I sounded bored as hell.

"Well, it's one of those old video cammette things, it HUGE!" she said, "WHAT?" she yelled as I burst out laughing.

"CaSSette tape Katniss" I called down, "and we need to get you out of there, I'm freezing!" I grinned as I knew what was coming, and mouthed the words along with her

"And how do you suggest we do THAT, smart cookie?" My grin faded away, as I realized, I had no idea how to get her out. The hole was at least 3 and a half metres deep.

"I'll have to go back…" I said, and as I started walking through the bushes, I tried to block out the terrified soprano voice she always reverted to when she was really terrified. My arm caught on a branch, and I closed my eyes, waiting for the hard ground to come up and smash my face. But the scratches of the sharp stones and sticks never came, and an idea formed as I realized I was being held up by a single vine.

"KATNISS!" I yelled as I burst through the foliage, "Where's your bow and arrows?"

"I dropped them when I fell, dumbass." Her voice returning to it's normal tone, and dripping with sarcasm, "I guess I couldn't lay them on a velvet pillow for you, Lord Almighty. Just 'cause you're good looking…" I cut her out, smirking at her slip of the tongue

"Oh, so I'm good looking am I?" I enquired, a little too innocently

"Well, just remember, I have seen you in your underwear" I could hear the grin in her voice, but got back to what I really needed.

"Look, can you shoot an arrow up here, and try not to kill me in the process." I laughed as an arrow shot out of the hole, but missed the ground and fell back into it, presumably hitting Katniss in the head, judging by her

"OW!" A torrent of arrows came out, one after another, I plucked one out of the air, letting the others fall back in.

"Cheers!" I called down, going in search of a long, and thick vine.

After I found a suitable specimen, I tied a sturdy knot on both ends of the arrow with opposite ends of the vine. I smiled as I remembered making swings like this with Annie when we were kids. We used bits of driftwood and seaweed tied together in the place of the arrow and vine. I dropped it down the hole and told Katniss to sit on the arrow. It would hold her weight because it was made of silver, but I made sure to tell her to support some of her weight by holding on to the vine.

I pulled her up by winding the loop in the vine around my waist and walking away from the hole. Katniss scrambled out of the top after chucking a rectangle of plastic at my head.

"Oy! What was that?" I yelled, rubbing my sore head, but stopping when I realized it was messing up my hair.

"That's the cassette, Finnick," she mocked, "I thought you were an expert on them." A playful smile played across her dirt-stained lips.

I took another look at her, and I couldn't help thinking how different she looked after she had been primped by her prep team. Her hair was sticking out in all directions, more like a birds nest than a plait. Her pretty features were masked under a layer of grime and mud, and there were several tears in her hunting clothes.

"We've got to get it back to Beetee…what?" She finished with her hands on her hips and an almost comical expression of rage on her face.

"Oh...um, you need to clean up, otherwise Coin will realize something is up, snatch that tape and analyse it to death," Katniss shrugged, as if to say 'so what', "OR…she will put it in a museum, and not even watch it first" I smiled at the amount her expression could change. Her face showed indignation as she marched off to find a river and…smear the dirt around even more. Oh well, we'll just have to make up a story about chasing a deer. I grudgingly smeared dirt in my hair and on my face, and even tore a couple of 'well-placed' rips, in my shirt.

"Finnick, you're not leaving much to the imagination, it's quite…" I smiled as I saw the blush spreading across her face.

"C'mon Katniss, we need to get this to Beetee." I grinned at her, and noticed she didn't look at me the whole way back to District 13.


	2. Chapter 1

"Now, it cuts out, just before the end," Beetee reluctantly informed us, "But the sound and audio is quite good quality."

Katniss and I looked at each other, we were excited, we were nervous, but the overwhelming feeling was anticipation. As the screen flickered into life, we could see a man sitting down, and adjusting the camera. Katniss gasped,

"Look at his eyes, Finnick," Katniss tugged on my arm, not looking away from the grainy screen, "They look like Titus's"

This comparison confused me at first, but then I remembered the crazed look in the cannibalistic tributes eyes. The man from the dark days shared that hunted look, and was always looking around, as if someone might burst through the doors at any moment. He was all alone, and for some reason that made me feel sad, because he was facing this all by himself. I knew from the arena that being by yourself intensified whatever fear you felt.

"Annie," a whisper escaped from my lips, barely audible, even to me.

"What did you say?" Katniss looked up at me, "Are you okay Finnick?" Her eyebrows furrowed as she touched the clammy sweat that had broken out on my forehead. I stared at her face, and could see her lips moving, but the ringing in my ears drowned everything else out. I pushed her to one side, the edges of my vision blurring as I headed towards the door. I was vaguely aware that my throat was raw, and my mind subconsciously made the connection that I was screaming. That was the last thing I remembered before the ground came up to meet me.

_Beep Beep Beep. _I slowly opened my eyes, blinking away the blurriness, and staring up at the familiar white ceiling of the District 13 hospital. As the events of yesterday came rushing back, the clarity came back to my mind with an almost painful force. I threw back the covers, leaped out of the bed, and slammed straight into a doctor, wearing a crisp, white long coat.

"Oh, Mr. Odair, you're awake," He held onto my shoulders, and sat me back down on the bed, "You have a visitor." He drew back the curtain surrounding my bed, revealing the most wonderful sight I had ever seen,

"Annie!" I shouted, drawing her clouded eyes towards me. I threw myself off the bed, and fell down in front of her.

"Please, Annie, I'm so sorry," I grasped her hands, and lay my head on her lap, "I don't know what came over me."

"Umm…Mr. Odair," The doctor took hold of my arm, and gently pulled me up to a standing position, "Miss Cresta is not your visitor, she is here for her ultrasound, to check if your child is healthy. Miss Cresta, Dr. Kumi will see you now."

"Noooo," I cried as Annie walked through the stainless steel doors, without even acknowledging my presence.

"Umm, hey Finn," Katniss said awkwardly, peeking around the crisp curtains, "I heard you woke up, you were out for 3 days…" Her speech fizzled out as she noticed me staring at her with a furious, puzzled expression.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" I screamed in her face, "You're the reason Annie hates me! If you hadn't invited me hunting, none of this would have happened! I thought Annie was here to see me, but she acted like she couldn't even see me!" I broke out sobbing, falling to my knees, and burying my face in the austere white sheets I tore from the hospital bed.

"NO!" I screamed as Katniss tried to comfort me, pushing her away with much more force than I intended.

"What have I even done?" She yelled at me, tears sparkling in the corners of her eyes.

"Katniss, I…" I tried to pull her into an embrace, but she pushed me away, and blindly crashed through the machines surrounding my bed towards the doors Annie had walked through just a minute ago.

"Mr Odair, I think that's quite enough excitement for one d…"

"Where are my clothes?" I demanded

"I'm sorry, I…" The doctor stuttered, glancing at his colleagues for support,

"I want my clothes."

"Dr Cooper," A nurse broke in, I vaguely noticed her long golden locks, and how extravagant they were for District 13, "Mr Odair's clothes are just in the locker by the bed.

"Good," I said flatly, taking off my hospital gown right there, left just in my underwear, "What?" I interjected, blankly looking at the blushing nurses, retreating, but very slowly.

"Oh," I said, blushing in realization, "Sorry." I put my gown back on, and waited for the nurses and Dr. Cooper to leave the room. Annie hated me doing this sort of thing. She didn't even like me fishing topless when there were other people around. I kicked the locker, meaning it to be a light tap, but a loud clang greeted me.

"Shit!" I yelled, knowing I would be severely reprimanded as I glanced down, seeing a large dent in the metal locker. Breaking anything was a serious crime in 13. I dressed in my comfortable hunting gear, and snuck out of the doors, hearing them swish behind me.

I was going in search of Annie, I had to explain, I couldn't let her sink back into depression, where she doesn't speak, just sits still for hours on end. Just as I was racing around the corner, I smashed into Doctor Grey, who had treated me previously. He was still the only doctor to call me by my first name.

"Aah Finnick, how are you?" He said, calmly steadying himself on my shoulders, "I heard that you were admitted a couple of days ago with mild…"

"Sorry Doctor, I can't stay and chat," even though I was in a hurry, I liked the old man, he, along with Katniss, Annie and Boggs, was the only person I respected, "Where do the ultrasounds take place? I need to find Annie."

"Oh…umm, that's not really my area of…ummm…well, I guess…" He flustered around, turning bright red and tugging at his collar. It was so obvious he was lying.

"Annie said she doesn't want to see me does she?" I said, the reality finally sinking in. I hung my head, and collapsed against the old man's frail shoulders.

He gasped and tried to support me, but somehow we both ended up sitting on the floor propped up against the cold hard walls.

"Annie told us to not tell you where she was, you don't know how shaken she was when you flung yourself at her. I'm not surprised either, it looked like you were attacking her! But as soon as she left your ward, she burst into tears and said 'I thought he's forgotten me' and she murmured something about an agreement, or a promise."

"Oh god," I groaned, hanging my head in my knees, "I can't believe just one morning could mess up my whole life!"

"Hey, c'mon Finn," Doc said, lightly tapping my shoulder, "you didn't hear it from me, but the ultrasound room is just that room opposite, that's why Annie was waiting in your ward."

Without thinking to thank the kind old doctor, I lept up, and burst into the room, to reveal the most beautiful girl in the world, ultrasound forgotten, sobbing in the arms of Dr. Kumi.

* * *

And thank you too Jazz for the lovely review, I can't message you, but it meant so much to me!

On that note, I have had 318 views on my story, and I've only gotten 3 reviews! I don't like begging, but that is depressing! Come on, it doesn't take long!


	3. Chapter 2

"Annie! I'm so sorry," I managed to choke out, "Please forgive me, I…" My voice thickened and I stopped talking as I could feel the tears welling up behind my eyes. I didn't want to cry in front of her again.

"I, Finnick? I?" Annie said quietly, her voice breaking, "What about me Finn? All you ever think about is yourself!" I ran over to Annie and fell to my knees, feeling the pang of hitting a newly developed bruise, from when I did the same thing a few hours back.

"No Annie, please. You are my whole universe. I could never leave you, I love you darling." I tried to put tenderness into those words, but they came out sounding insincere and hollow.

"Come back when you mean that," I was shocked by the coldness in her voice, "You've broken one too many promises, Finnick Odair. Oh, and you can have this _thing_ back." She threw a silver ring, etched with wave designs, a solitary sapphire adorning the top, at me. The tiny ring seemed like it weighed a tonne as it ricocheted off my chest, knocking me off balance. I gave her that ring when I asked her to be my wife.

"Nooo," I groaned rocking back and forth on the hard floor, tearing at my hair, "I mean them Annie, I can't leave you, I would die without you."

"Get out of here Finn, I don't want you near me, or _my_ child."

"Dear, think about this rationally, your hormones are fluctuating very much because of your pregnancy," Doctor Kumi's calm voice rang out above the chaos, "You have spent your whole life with Mr. Odair, and you are going to throw that away because he went hunting for one morning?"

"It's not just that!" Annie snapped back viciously, completely different from her usual calm manner, "He was always doing things like this in back in District 7. He would disappear one night, and the next morning rumours would be flying around, and a blushing girl would say, 'yes, he came to me.'. Have you any idea how embarrassing that is. Or how hard it is to say, 'yes darling, of course I believe you', while hating yourself because you don't trust the love of your life! Well Finnick, DO YOU?" She finished this rampage clutching the sheets of the bed, panting, her face filled with wild frenzy.

"Oh, Annie," I said, rising unsteadily to my feet, my tear stained face coming close to hers, "I was never with any other woman except you. I disappeared to some girls house because some nights, it felt like you weren't even there. All we did was talk, nothing else. Me and Katniss were just hunting. Please believe me darling." I stared deep into her dark emerald eyes, and reached for her hand.

She turned away, pulling her hands up to her chest.

"Finnick, you promised to never leave me again. But the next morning, I wake up all alone in my bed, and don't see you for another 3 days!" A sparkling tear glistened in the corner of her eyes, "You weren't hunting for _three_ days Finnick!"

"Annie, I went hunting in the morning, but wanted to come straight back as soon as I remembered you, about 5 seconds after I found Katniss. I only came back late coz Katniss fell down a really big hole and I had to rescue her. When we came back, I thought of you, facing this by yourself, and I totally freaked out. I was screaming, and couldn't hear anything. I needed to get to you. But then I passed out for 3 days. That's why I was in hospital." I tilted her chin up so she could see the truth in my eyes. She slowly gazed into them, and the cloudiness fell away and was replaced by a worrying focus.

"Annie, are you alright?" I spoke carefully, as if I was walking across a minefield. She smiled and clutched my hand. Her slender hands led mine to the small bump that was soon going to be our first child. She giggled and hid under her flowing brown hair in a playful gesture I knew so well, as I looked up at her with stupid happiness when I felt the tiny baby kicking.

"How does it feel?" I said my brows furrowing, "Y'know, to have a little human inside you?" She contemplated this for a second as she rested her head on my broad shoulders.

"Don't talk Finn," She smiled up at me, still holding my hand, "You're spoiling the illusion."

"What illusion?" I murmured, leaning into her soft dark hair.

"Well, you look like a God, but when you open you're mouth it gets spoiled." I glanced down at her grinning face, dark green eyes full of love.

"I love you're eyes, they remind me of the sea. Not just the colour, but the way they sparkle." Her lips met mine just as I realized Doctor Kumi had left.

_Thank you_. I whispered in my mind, guessing she had left around the time of my explanation. That night I slept soundly, my arms encircled around Annie's slender frame

I awoke the next morning to find Annie still asleep, but I didn't leave, just stayed entwined in her arms and hair until she too awoke from her slumber.

"Finnick, thank you." she murmured when she opened her eyes, "Thank you fro not leaving again."

Slowly freeing myself from her grasp, but still holding her hand, I knelt on the floor at the side of the tiny single bed of the ultrasound room. Feeling for the discarded ring from yesterday, I decided to risk something.

"Annie Cresta, will you be my betrothed…again?" I smiled at her from underneath my bronzed hair, much darker now because it no longer had the sun to bleach it.

"Finn, of course I will! I'm so sorry about yesterday." She blushed as the delicate silver ring, with its large sapphire gleamed against her tanned skin.

"Oh yeah, there's something I want to show you!" I leapt up, and pulled Annie by the hand towards Beetee's room.

As we entered, Beetee was practically dancing around the small dark room.

"Oh Finnick, Annie, just in time! The cassette has another 30 seconds of footage, and it is going to change our lives forever!"


End file.
